So glad to see that you're updating this fic again!! And what a creepy chapter-- creepy in a great way, of course. ;) Narcissa is so often portrayed sympathetically that it's fascinating to see her like this. And will Draco's memories return?? It'll come out in the next chapter, I guess...

You weren't kidding that you would update soon. I really like the differences in your characterization of Draco/Drew. I'm also interested to know more about the spell. Looking forward to your next update.

I just discovered this fic, and am loving it! I love the world you've created, and what's happening in it. Your writing is so good. I do hope you'll continue with this story, and I selfishly hope you'll update again soon!

Author's Response: I actually have the rest of this story written, and I will be posting another update very soon! Stay tuned!!

Pam!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I see chapter 16 sitting in the submission queue awaiting approval and I am so excited!! If someone else doesn't get to it first, I'll go through the submissions tomorrow! Can't wait to read!!!!!!!!!!!! (Is that enough exclamation points for you, or nah...? 6_6)

Author's Response: Yess! I am so glad to see you are still active. I am planning to catch up on TDC very soon!!

Hmmmmm, Lucius's actions make me doubt Draco's assertion that everything is going to be okay. Standing in the road all ominous-like, ripping a door off the car, grabbing Draco by the collar of his shirt and yanking him out of the car with a choking grip... what in this situation is reassuring to Draco?? Either he was just saying that to calm Ginny down, or he knows something about Lucius that we don't. Can't wait to see what Lucius has to say!

Author's Response: Well, to be fair, he said it would be all right BEFORE his father ripped off the door, but yes, mostly he said it to be reassuring. That being said, there is something that Draco knows. :)

Loooved this interaction. Ginny is now treating Draco and Drew like two different people, and she's already grown so accustomed to the idea that she can joke with Draco about it! Meanwhile, she's being called Ginny, and she knows she's Ginny, but until she gets all her memories back, she's still partly Gwen, too.

But Draco forgets that Ginny is still mostly Gwen, which is why he slips when she asks if he remembers how they met, which is another thing I love about this chapter!

//Out of the corner of his eye, he could see his children looking on at him. His son had the smallest smile on the corner of his lips, and his daughter’s eyes were wide with wonder. It occurred to Draco then that this was probably the first sign of affection towards their mother that they had witnessed since he had come back to them.//

I actually interpreted the smile and the look of wonder as referring to Draco showing Ginny some affection at all. Maybe I'm remembering incorrectly, but I assumed that Gwen and Drew weren't overly affectionate with one another, partly because they were pragmatic people, and Drew especially seemed to be a hard person, but also because of Drew's affair tainting their relationship. So when I read this part, I saw it as the kids seeing their father doing something chivalrous/polite/respectful for their mother, which maybe they hadn't seen much of before. It's still sad that such a small thing could capture them so much, especially because just a little while ago, they were wary around Draco and a little cold to him because of his abandonment. But it was good for them, too, because they could see that Draco really does care for Ginny, and if he cares for her, then maybe he cares for the kids, too. Maybe that's what they've been worried about this whole time, that Draco doesn't really love any of them anymore. Otherwise, why would he hurt all of them and abandon them?

I don't really know where I was going with that, but I appreciated the small gesture (Draco's opening the door for Ginny AND the children's awe over that) in this chapter. It's tiny things like that that may be easy to read over that really flesh out this story. And you utilize those small details so fabulously!

I love this story and i am sooo sad to know it is taking a while before the big send...Can i guess that the reason for the hesitation is because Draco has to prove his love for Ginny... She has to believe in the love with him as well. I am sooo looking to understanding what it is that brings the whole thing together... I am excited....

UPDATED YAY!!! I'm not even peeking at this, because I only have an eentsy little bit of time left with net access and I want to wait until I can really spend some time on this latest chapter, but I WILL R AND R, OH YES. :)

I really hope Ginny (and the readers!) get more answers soon! It looks like she can't take much more. ;o;

As I've said multiple times while reading this story, you've done such a great job differentiating between Drew, Draco, Gwen, and Ginny, and the paragraph where Draco observes how Gwen and Ginny are two different people is definitely testament to that. Ginny comes off a little crazy sometimes, but that's completely understandable, not just because she's under a lot of stress because of her lost memories, but also because two people, two personalities, are fighting for dominance in her body. The person she used to be, and the frightening memories that come to her in her dreams, and the person she thought she was for ten years, including the life and family she built during that time. And now she knows she's got a child from her past that she doesn't really remember, and a new child not even born yet! How confusing for her (and her current children!).

It feels so real, so authentic, that Ginny isn't automatically happy just because Draco has returned.

I love the way that Ginny demands to know why he left, the way that she won’t accept that kind of deception from him. She will not allow him to keep things from her anymore.She loves him, but she knows, now, that it’s not enough for him to be back. Her life and herself are about more than him.

Okay, there’s just ONE thing that’s a LITTLE confusing, and that’s the interlude piece where Draco, Fred, and George are going to find Luna. Is this a flashback to what happened before, during the weeks that Draco won’t tell Ginny about?

Oh, Ginny’s first child IS alive! And maybe the way that Draco won’t tell her why he left has something to do with this kid…

Ooooooh! I knew the baby (child now) would be the key to Ginny's memories! But it looks like I was completely wrong about the idea that the child is Draco's. I'm guessing he's the true child of Harry's prophecy? Or perhaps he has to take over Harry's role now that he's dead? I feel so bad for Draco. D: I wonder what he'll tell Ginny, or if he'll allow her to leave with his kids until she and her other child are ready to learn the truth.

And I agree with what Fred and George said in the previous chapter, I like this Draco better than before-memory-loss Draco AND more than Drew. He's a nice mix of both, I think. And I like how Ginny is becoming more and more Ginny-like, less and less Gwen-like, because of the circumstances she finds herself in. If she didn't fight back and stand up for herself, she and her children would be lost. It's very Ginny of her to demand answers and take action. It actually reminds me a lot of Ginny's canon growth, from a timid, shy child (at least around Harry) who went through this traumatic event, to a woman who rises above that event to become stronger and more self-assured. Gwen was also the timid sort of wallflower who couldn't bring herself to stand up to her own husband, but now this strange thing is happening that she doesn't understand, and if she can't get some control of her family life, then what CAN she control? I love how the more I read, the more I see into these characterizations and how they work. You've done such a great job with them!

Love the update! Can't wait for more!

Author's Response: Yes, yes - the baby is so very important, but that is all I can say! And YES again to you understanding the Gwen-To-Ginny transformation and understanding Draco's growth into a decent human being. :)

The most interesting thing about D/G in general, IMHO, is that this relationship allows authors to explore all of the different aspects of their personalities in a way that clearly didn't happen in canon. It's as if these two characters have a chance to become real, to *feel* real, which is what needs to happen in literature (and sometimes doesn't.) Drew and Gwen aren't the same people that Draco and Ginny would have become without memory loss and substantial change in environment. Yet that more passive, more submissive side of Ginny was always there. I think that's why we saw the canon!Ginny who became Harry's gf and apparently learned to live with being ignored and left out of the meaningful parts of his life-- that portrayal wasn't completely unrealistic; it was just a less attractive part of Ginny's character coming out.

Here, we see more of the totality of who Ginny and Draco could have become and did become. But I especially liked this:

Her warm body snuggled beside him was finally taking over his senses. The sleep that he had evaded had caught up to him, and as he closed his eyes and allowed his two separate minds to think freely, he realized that every thought - whether it had originated from Drew's or Draco's way of thinking - began and ended with the woman who was sleeping beside him.

He had to get her back.

Whether Draco or Drew, he still loves her. :) But he has a lot of work to do with her before they get there, I think.

Wow, it's easy to see that this will NOT be one of those fics where all of the problems that Draco and Ginny have are rooted in a simple misunderstanding. And that's good. Because it never feels realistic. I have to agree with Ginny right now-- he needs to be smacked around a few times. :P No matter what he was doing, no matter where he went, was it REALLY impossible for him to give her even a tiny shred of news? Reassurance? Anything? But I understand why she did what she did at the end, too... But then again, I think that Draco should be kicked around for awhile just because of the infidelity issues in the past... But he did come back... .

Wow, what a fascinating combination of different times, motivation, characterizations... there's just so much going on, and yet I can see the shapes or the outlines of how it's all connected, even though nothing is clear yet. I especially liked this:

It was killing him, shredding him apart from the inside out, that she was not herself, and she would be far less helpless if she weren't fighting blindly.

I think it's because a key to Ginny's character is that we know that for a year, she was not herself (and I've always suspected that the experience changed her in ways that were never explored. Oh, forget about suspected... I've worked with trauma victims, and I KNOW.)

And then the juxtaposition of Ginny's relationships with both Harry and Draco in the past... there's so much here!!! Off to read the next chapter. :)

YAAY! Reunion! What was Draco doing?? I'm going to guess he was trying to get money somehow (maybe Fred and George were helping him? Because they couldn't leave their sister destitute, not while she is still unaware of who she is), or trying to get them real lodging of some sort? (But that seems unlikely if they are in danger. Maybe they need to keep moving.) The way Draco said "Everything I did, I did to help you" makes me think he was trying to help her get her memory back, but I can't see how he could do that. Unless he was looking for her missing child?? If the child is still alive, that is. If Fred and George could get their memories back after finding each other, then I can imagine Ginny getting hers back after seeing her oldest son/daughter.

I wonder if Draco will be upfront with Gwen about where he was. She's relieved now, but I feel like that anger is going to simmer there for a while, at least until she can understand what happened.

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